Tallon Smith

Dubbo CYMS have become the third side to withdraw from the West Wyalong Knockout after a new draw was announced on Thursday night.

The 2023 Peter McDonald Premiership winners were originally drawn to play the Hay Magpies in the first round on Friday, February 28, however they have since informed the West Wyalong RLFC that they will not be participating.

CYMS President Nick Sykes told Battlers For Bush Footy that the Fishies would have been without many of their star players, after representative honours and even an international trip affected the availability of key squad members.

“We have two players in the Western Division side, and we’ve got three blokes going to Vegas for the nines competition with the Wellington Wedgetails,” he said.

“We also have five starters that couldn’t make it.

“I’m a bit disappointed we had to pull out, I thought we could have sent a young side, but it’s a tough two-day event.”

The CYMS’ withdrawal follows the decision of Group 20 club Griffith Waratahs to withdraw from the event last week.

Battlers For Bush Footy understands it was a choice made by the Waratah Tigers’ playing group in light of recent events.

Yenda have also withdrawn due to separate club matters, while last year’s champions Woden Valley replaced Temora as a late entry, with the Dragons to miss the event for the first time in its 52-year history.

West Wyalong Knockout Round 1 – Friday, February 28

• 6:30pm TLU Sharks v Forbes
• 7:10pm Parkes v West Wyalong
• 7:50pm Young v Yanco
• 8:30pm South City v Leeton
• 9:10pm Cooma v Woden Valley
• 9:50pm Bombala v Orange CYMS
• Hay bye 

Editorial: The Battler’s AFL question answered, but poorly it seems

In light of the racist video incident last month at West Wyalong, one question that has been asked by many is what local sporting authorities are doing in response.

With a greater social media presence (one that won the club awards in 2024), and a large following, the Mallee Men, and in turn rugby league, copped the brunt of the backlash to the abhorrent comments and views aired in the shocking clip.

Rugby league authorities, at both Group 20 and NSWRL level, were quick to acknowledge the incident, and handing the player a breach notice, provisionally suspending him pending further investigation.

However, one question The Battler has continually asked was what the response was from the player’s other club, the Tullibigeal Football Netball Club, along with the Northern Riverina Football Netball League and AFL NSW/ACT.

The Battler was so passionate about the issue, he contacted the editor of the West Wyalong Advocate to see if Australian rules authorities were doing anything about the issue at all.

After over a fortnight of silence, NRFNL secretary Leanne Imrie finally answered those questions in last week’s Advocate after being contacted by the masthead.

“The player in question isn’t contracted to any AFL club this season, and the league wouldn’t be releasing a statement given the actions of the individual were not at a team event, function, or in team colours,” Imrie said.

“While we don’t condone racism, we also can’t be responsible for the individual actions of people away from the club.”

Upon reading that at first, everything seems fair and in order, however, the player in question was not contracted to a rugby league club either, yet the league authorities were proactive enough to acknowledge his links to the West Wyalong club and serve a breach notice preventing him from registering this year.

In that context, the least that Tullibigeal FNC, the NRFNL and AFL NSW/ACT could do is acknowledge the incident via a joint statement and convey to the public whether the player is allowed to register this season or not.

We thank the Advocate for chasing the matter up, as it seems AFL authorities would have been more than happy to continue dodging their responsibility as a community organisation altogether had the paper not contacted them.

If this story has affected any of our Indigenous readers, support is available by calling 13 YARN on 13 9276.